UH Manoa alumnus, student receive prestigious engineering awards

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UH Mānoa) College of Engineering alumnus Jeoffrey S. Cudiamat was named 2009 Young Engineer of the Year and Reece Iwami was named 2009 Student Engineer of the Year by the Hawaiʻi Council of Engineering Societies. Both awardees will be recognized at the 2009 Engineers Week Banquet on February 21, 2009 at 6:30 p.m., Hale Ikena, Fort Shafter Golf Course.

Cudiamat is the owner and chief executive officer of both Structural Hawaiʻi, Inc. and Cudiamat Design and Engineering Services based in the Philippines. He was recently appointed by Mayor Mufi Hannemann to serve as chief engineer and director of the Facilities Maintenance Department for the City & County of Honolulu. A graduate of Pearl City High School, Cudiamat earned his bachelor‘s degree in civil engineering from the University of Southern California and his master‘s degree in structural engineering from UH Mānoa. In 2008, Cudiamat was named Young Entrepreneur of the Year by the Filipino Chamber of Commerce and as Engineer of the Year by the Filipino-American League of Engineers and Architects (FALEA). This year, he will serve as president of Cold-Formed Steel Engineers Institute and as a board member of FALEA.

Iwami, a senior majoring in electrical engineering at UH Mānoa, was one of 20 students to receive a UH Board of Regents Scholarship as a graduating senior from Castle High School in 2006. A member of the UH Mānoa Cube Satellite (CubeSat) Program since his freshman year, Iwami has taken a lead role by assisting with a U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research proposal, co-authoring three publications and earning a NASA Space Grant Traineeship and Fellowship. This academic year, he was awarded a $10,000 scholarship as one of 20 undergraduates recognized by the National Consortium for Measurement and Signature Intelligence Research to develop advance antenna solutions for the intelligence community. Iwami is a member of the student chapter of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and is currently president of the UH Mānoa chapter of the electrical engineering honor society Eta Kappa Nu. He is expected to graduate this semester.

"The UH Mānoa College of Engineering is very proud of Jeoffrey Cudiamat and Reece Iwami," said Dean Peter E. Crouch. "It is great to see an alumnus and a current student of the College receive much-deserved recognition for their outstanding achievements in engineering."

ABOUT THE UH MĀNOA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERINGThe University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa College of Engineering has launched thousands of successful careers in Hawaiʻi and throughout the world. Graduates occupy key roles with engineering firms, government agencies, defense contractors, and as entrepreneurs. Many of its 9000 alumni have made significant engineering contributions to the state‘s infrastructure and are now set on accomplishing similar tasks abroad. The College‘s respect for the Hawaiian culture is reflected in its successful mentoring program for under-represented science and engineering students. As the College recently celebrated its 100-year history, it is focused on becoming a major contributor to Hawaiʻi‘s renewable energy and sustainable future.